Qualification: Level 3 Diploma for the Early Years Educator
Unit: Unit 1.4: Promote children’s emotional well-being
Learning outcome: 1 Understand children’s needs in relation to emotional well-being
Assessment criteria: 1.1 Explain theoretical perspectives on emotional well-being
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- Emotional wellbeing descibes how a child feels in terms of safety, security, contentment, happiness, confidence and self-esteem
- The relationships that children have with the adults around them contribute to their emotional wellbeing
- Maslow’s Theory of Motivation (Hierarchy of Needs) describes an individual’s psychological needs starting from the basics, such as food and shelter and moving up to security, love and belonging and self-actualization
- Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment suggests the prime importance of a child making an attachment with a caregiver
- This work was continued by Ainsworth who developed the Strange Situation Classification to identify attachment styles in young children
- Harlow performed experiements with young monkeys and concluded that tactile love and comfort was more important to child development than simply providing basic needs
- Robertson observed children that were separated from their primary caregiver for short periods. He noted emotions, such as sadness and anger in the children but also concluded that a positive and caring environment can mitigate most of negatives associated with separation
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